Morozko

For all of you, who think this movie is stupid, just because it doesn´t fit into your watching habits:

Is it bizarre? Of course it is, but check these really old German, French or English tales and legends. I wonder what you´d say to the original Brothers Grimm collection. I think that´s also the problem with understanding, the people of America simply don´t have this part of culture, because it comes directly from the medieval age.

The story has its roots so far away, so deep in the Slav history, that if Hollywood would like to make something comparable, they´d have to steal the story from some ancient native American tribe.

Nothing terrible will not see. For the Russians it is a very good tale, many were brought up on it. And no, that everything went crazy. Remember Pushkin's fairy tales: "There on unknown paths of the Traces unseen animals; the hut there on chicken legs It is worth without Windows, without doors". Every child knows, walking the houses,the trees, talking mushrooms, flying on a broomstick the witch Baba-Yaga is a fairy tale! What the wizard is a mushroom turned hero to bear, in a fairy tale wanted to show that rude and boasters it is bad. And let's not forget that this is all the 1964 year. What in those years, the special effects?

I saw this film when I was probably seven years old, a few years after it was released with English dubbed into it. I saw it in the theatre with my sister's Brownie troop, and I recall it as being fantastical in nature, but, as a child, I loved that sort of thing. I loved the living house with feet, the mushroom man (who reminded me of a character from Fantasia,) and the beautiful Nastenka. This is a Romeo and Juliet story with all of the details borrowed from the Brothers Grimm and Russian fairy tales. I am sure, if I saw this as an adult, it might seem rather disjointed, but as a kid, I loved it. I saw it again a few years after the theatre release, as a Sunday afternoon television movie, and enjoyed it just as much, as an older child. Perhaps kids today would be too sophisticated to enjoy it - but I enjoyed it enough to look it up on IMDb.

I think I can solve this. I saw this first on MST3K, loved the way they

heaped abuse on it, one of the funniest shows ever.

This got me so into the movie that I bought the DVD, a really

beautiful package with the history of the movie and interveiw with the

star. Also, when you see the beautiful photography you can see how this

became an enchanting classic for many around the world. It's really

quite stunning. It really makes me want to see some of the other

Russian epics abused by MST3k, like "The Day The Earth Froze." Anyway,

if you have any taste for the unusual, this DVD is highly reccomended.

Did not see the English edition, and happy about it. Being 100% fluent in both Russian and English, I cringe thinking how mangled a translation can get either way. Especially if the original is real heavy on cultural lore. I did watch and love the Russian movie - as little kid, and as a grown-up. This movie has very little 'Soviet' in it, really. It does promote the basic human values of being kind, brave, honest, polite etc, but is fully based on ancient Russian fairy tales. Slavic culture is thousands of years old, and these tales are on par with Kalevala, Ramayana, Beowulf, Iliad and other ancient epics.

To great credit of communist rule, the cultural background awareness was not suppressed, but strengthened and encouraged during Soviet era. Books were printed, movies were made; ancient Russian literature and history were studied in schools. Like many other European cultures, Russians preserved their identity. This movie is something they IDENTIFY with. In fact, any culturally educated person - not necessarily Russian - will recognize this movie for what it is and respect it.